Downtown Chico business owners frustrated after string of car break-ins

Chico >> A downtown Chico parking structure has seen several vehicle burglaries recently, leaving business owners frustrated and the lot riddled with broken glass.

The city-owned structure on Salem Street between West Third and West Fourth streets has been plagued by crime before, but there's been an uptick in incidents, said Wayne Cook, owner of Hotel Diamond, which has 43 dedicated spots in the structure for its overnight guests.

On Sunday and Monday, Cook learned several vehicles belonging to guests were broken into.

"We have some enraged guests, people who are livid," he said.

In the past, Hotel Diamond hasn't drawn attention to the issue because it didn't want to associate itself with being a crime-prone area, but it's time to address the problem, Cook said.

Cook isn't alone.

Bird in Hand's owner, Bob Malowney, is currently dealing with his insurance company after someone broke into his wife's car on Monday night.

The person smashed the passenger side window and gained entry into the car, Malowney said during a telephone interview. The glove box was ransacked and a cellphone charger was stolen.

Malowney's store is adjacent to the structure so he leases parking spots.

The Chico Police Department "got hammered" with incidents in the parking structure in the last couple of days, Chico police Sgt. Rob Merrifield said on Tuesday afternoon. He didn't know the exact number of incident, but there were several reports filed Monday and Sunday.

These incidents are hurting businesses and downtown, Cook said. This proliferation of "problematic people" that come with some criminal element and poisons the business environment in Chico.

"It doesn't just make business difficult, it poisons it," Cook emphasized. "You don't have to have very much of this kind of activity before businesses don't make it."

Malowney said his business has been next to the parking structure for decades, but the incidents have never been this bad.

Either the "derelicts" are worse or they feel they have more freedom to commit these crimes with no one checking them, he said.

A lack of police officers available to investigate the cases has also left Malowney and Cook worried the crimes will continue.

It's like the people who committed these crimes have impunity, Cook said.

When there are repeated instances like these, it gives the impression that nobody is going to do anything about it, said Joe Montes, general manager for AAA Properties, which is Hotel Diamond's parent company.

Montes notified the Chico Police Department about the break-ins, but was told by a dispatcher that it wasn't something the Police Department could investigate mostly in part because there're not enough officers to do it, he said he was told. The only thing that would prompt an investigation is if someone is able to identify and provide a name of a suspect or suspects.

"We have this crime that affects the business, but then we have a limited police department that's not able to do anything about it," he said.

Malowney had to report the incident online.

No police officer has personally responded to the scene of the break-ins, according to everyone involved.

Chico police did arrest one person who is thought to have been involved in at least one break-in.

At about 5:30 a.m., a Hotel Diamond guest reported that someone had broken into her Subaru and stole several checks, Merrifield said. Six hours later, Chico police was notified by California Check Cashers of a suspect allegedly attempting to cash one of the checks.

Officers arrested 23-year-old Justin Nelson on suspicion of possessing stolen property. He was reportedly found with another check hidden in his sock.

These crimes are difficult to solve because most of the time people don't have serial numbers to property, so it can't be tracked, Merrifield said.

The Chico Police Department is aware when there's a series of crimes happening in an area and officers on that beat will naturally keep an eye in that area, but no additional officers will be sent there, Merrifield said.

Malowney would like to see a patrol car at least drive through the structure.

People pay large amounts of money for the parking, but don't get services, he said. It's cheaper to park on the street, which he said he's considering.

The Chico Police Department's command staff has stated in the past that due to a drop in number of on-duty personnel, it has had to turn into a reactive department. This year, it also began taking certain reports only online to free-up officers.

"It's frustrating," Malowney said. "We worked our whole livelihood, made concession ... paid lots of money for sales tax and everything else ... but we're not getting the better environment. I'm frustrated of the inability of people in power to recognize the problem ..."

Chico has so much potential to be nicer than it is, Cook said.

"I can sense it, I can feel it, I want to be a part of it," he said.

However, incidents like a string of break-ins make him rethink all the plans he'd like to see come reality.